Signors op one-third to charles h



No. 6l6,'928. Patented lan. 3, I899.

v E. F. ISGRIG & E. J. PHARES.

EARTH AUGER.

(Application filed Mar. 17, 1898;.

(No Mddel.)

NITED STATES PATENT Prion,

ELI F. ISGRIG AND EDWARD J. PHARES, OF PIERRE, SOUTH DAKOTA, AS- SIGN ORS OF ONE-THIRD TO CHARLES H. ANDERSON, OF SAME PLACE.

" EARTH-AUGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 616,928, dated January 3, 1899.

Application filed Mflrh 1 1 1 3 9 8} To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ELI F. ISGRIG and EDWARD J. PHARES, citizens of the'United States, residing at Pierre, in the county of Hughes and State of South Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Earth-Angers; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the vinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to those earth-angers especially adapted for well-boring and prospectors work. One object of the invention is the provision of a tool of this class which can be easily and rapidly operated and will automatically feed itself when in use.

A further object is the provision in an earthauger of a bucket or cylinder and knives of such improved construction and arrangement that breakage of or damage to the knives by embedded rock at the sides -of the hole will be prevented and the removal of the tool and its contents from the hole rendered easy.

A still further object is to provide an improved earth-auger which can be readily centered and operated in any kind of earth.

The foregoing and other objects of the invention are accomplished by the provision of an earth-auger embodying certain improved features and novel combinations of parts appearing more fully hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section, and Fig. 3 a detail of one of the knives or cutters.

The numeral 1 designates a cylindrical metallic bucket employed to receive the cut earth, which has a flared or expanded lower end 2, provided with a sharpened edge 3. There are three knives or cutters 4 4 4, of similar construction, which have their shanks 5 riveted or otherwise suitably fastened to the inside walls of the bucket at equal distances apart. These knives are of flat material, constructed in asubstantially spiral shape, and extend downward and then inward from the lower edge of the bucket, with their tips 6 located at the apices of a triangle whose center would lie in the axis of the being screwed into the cross-piece 8.

Serial No. 674,140. (No model.)

bucket and defining an open or hollow boring-point at the center of the bucket.

The sharpened cutting edges 7 of the knives are gradually rounded to the extreme tips 6 and lie on the same side in the respective knives, so that they act successively on the earth when thetool is in use. It will be observed that the knives or cutters, while of substantially spiral shape, are of a general horizontal disposition, which enables them to actively engage the earth and elevate it into the bucket immediately after their tips have entered, and, furthermore, to work Without vibration regardless of the character of the soil. side of the bucket and the flared or expanded construction of the lower end of the latter the knives are protected from injury by stone embedded in the sides of the hole; but if injured they may be easily removed and others substituted, and this flared sharpened end acts as a reamer and renders removal of the bucket, with its lead, very easy. The disposition of the knives insures the proper retention of the bored or cut earth in the bucket during the removal of the latter.

At the upper end of the'bucket is an inverted-U-shaped cross-piece 8, the extremities of whose legs are connected to the inside thereof. The handle employed consists of two sections of pipe 9 and 10, equipped with couplings 11 and a cross-piece 12, said handle This construction permits of the use of a handle of any length, which can be detached when desirable, so that the tool can be made very compact for transportation.

WVe employ a centerer consisting of a straight rod or pipe 13, screwed into and depending centrally from the cross-piece 8, hav- 9o ing a pointed lower end 14, extending through the hollow boring-point formed by the tips of the knives and terminating below them. This centerer prevents any slipping or travel of the knives when the tool is started and insures their immediate action on the ground, being especially valuable when hard or frozen ground is being bored. When the tool has been properly centered, upon turning it the tips of the knives act on the earth and be- By reason of their connection to the in- 65 cause of their curvature automatically embed themselves one after another, sinking deeper and deeper until the bucket acts on the earth and reams the hole previously made. The automatic feed of the tool is brought about by the spiral shape of the knives, which work the cut or loose earth up into the bucket as the tool progresses downward. The hollow or open boring-point formed by reason of the peculiar disposition of the knives permits the loose earth to pass up into the bucket without interference, so that all packing of earth at the center of the tool (a defect incident to many earth-angers) is completely obviated and downward pressure by the operator is rendered unnecessary after the tool has been started. Consequently the boring operation can be carried on with rapidity and ease.

\Ve are aware that centering-points have been heretofore commonly employed on earthaugers and that it has been proposed to provide an earth-auger bucket with cutters or knives disposed with their tips in separated arrangement and defining a hollow boringpoint, and we do not therefore lay claim to such constructions broadly.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An earth-auger comprising a hollow cylindrical bucket having its lower edge flared or expanded outwardly and constituting a reamer, and knives or cutters of substantially spiral shape which have shanks connected to the inner walls of the bucket from which place they extend downwardly to a point below the flared edge of the bucket and then extend inwardly toward the center thereof in a substantially horizontal manner, terminating in separated, downturned tips which constitute a hollow boring-point at the center of the bucket below the latter, said knives lying within the circle defined by the flared edge and being adapted to cut the soil and elevate it into the bucket.

2. In an earth-auger, the combination with 'a cylindrical, hollow, bucket having an outwardly expanded or flared sharpened lower end constituting a reamer, of knives or cutters connected to the bucket which are of substantially spiral shape and of general horizontal disposition with their free portions extending downwardly and thence inwardly in ahorizontal plane from the walls of the bucket and terminating in separated downturned pointed tips which define a hollow boringpoint disposed centrally of the bucket, said knives lying within the circle defined by the flared end of the bucket, and a centering-rod, coinciding with the central axis of the bucket, having a pointed lower end extending between the tips of the knives and terminating below them.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ELI F. ISGRIG. EDVARD J. PIIARES.

\Vitnesses:

ALBERT GUNDERSON, (1-H. ANDERSON. 

